Frederick w



(No Model.)

F. W. RIBSS. 'TROLLEY ARM AND WIRE FINDER.

No. 544,794. Patented Aug. 20, 1895.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK W. RIESS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TROLLEY-ARM AND WIRE-FINDER.

'SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 544,794, dated August-20, 1895.

Application filed time 10, 1895., Serial No. 552,240. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. RIEss, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Trolley-Armsand ire-Finders, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to trolley-arms and wire-finders for electric cars,and has for its object to so construct the arm as that thetrolley-support and the guides or wire-finders will always be held inthe same relative position to the feed-wire no matter what inclinationto the horizontal the arm occupies. It is a well-known fact that thetrolleyqvheel, when a car passes under low bridges or places in therailroad where the feed-Wire is located only a few feet from the top ofacar, it leaves the feed-wire more frequently than on portions of theroad where the said wire is 10- cated at a substantial or usual heightof about twelve feet; and if any guidesor wire-finders are mounted tothe trolley-arm they will, when the arm by a spring, and a chain or cordis fastened to the upper part of the arm and the pivotal support for thesame, so that when the arm is depressed by passing under a low feed-wirethe upper part of the arnutogether with the guards or wire-finder,maintain the same relative position to a low feed-wire as if the latterwas located at its usual heighti. e., ten or twelve feet above the topof the car.

My invention further consists of wire guards or guides of novelconstruction mounted on the upper part of the trolley-arm to insure theengagement of the trolley-wheel with the feed-wire, and my inventionfurther consists of the improvementshereinafter more fully described,and pointed out in the claims.

My invention will be more fully understood taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which Figure 1 is ageneral view of my improved two-part or knee-jointed trolley-armprovided with wire'fiuders or guards and pivotally attached to a shoemounted on top of a car, the said knee-jointed arm being shown inposition to pass under a feed-wire located at a usual height of abouttwelve feet above'the car. Fig- 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1,showing a frame with springs to maintain the trolleyar m in elevatedposition. Fig. 3 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1, showing thekneejointed arm in position to pass under a feedwire located near thetop of the car. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the hollow upper part of thetrolley-arm having mounted therein a resilient sliding fork in whichthetrolley-wheel is journaled, and showing a guard or wirefinder at eachside of the upper part of the trolley-arm. Fig. 5 is a longitudinalsection,

partly in" elevation, of the parts shown in Fig. 8; and Fig. 6 is a topview of a portion of Fig. 3.

Referring now to the drawings for a further description of my invention,a is a shoe or bed fastened to the top a of acar. a is a rotatable frameto which the lower part b of the two-part trolley-arm B is fulcrumed atb This frame may be of any suitable or preferred construction andcontain any number of suitable springs or devices to hold the arm B inpositiou to maintain contact between trolley-wheel e and feed-Wiref. Inthe pres ent instance, and as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a spring 8 ismounted between the cross-bar a of the frame a and a cross-head aslidingly mounted onv the Ways of the frame a The cross-head a isconnected to the lower forked extremity b of thetrolley-arm .Bby thelink of, so that when the trolleysarm B is more or less inclined to thehorizontal, the spring sis more or less compressed and tendsto elevatethe upper or free end of the arm B, as will be readily understood.

The trolley-arm B comprises the lower part b, having the bifurcatedextremity b and the upper part of extension I), which is hinged ICO andjointed to the lower part b to form a kneejoint- 17 for a purpose to bepresently described.

To the rear side of the upper part or extension b of the arm B issecured one end of a spring 3', which, with its other end, is attachednear the knee-jointb to an arm 19 of the lower part b of the arm B. Onthe opposite or front side of the upper part b and near the top endthereof is fastened one end of a chain, cord, or other link Z, whoseother end is secured to a cross-bar 0/. of the frame a Figs. 1, 2, and3, so that the upper part or extension I) of the arm 13 is at all timesmaintained in substantially the same inclination, while the inclinationof the part b of the arm B may range from the horizontal to almost thevertical.

The advantages of the arrangement are apparent when guards, guides, orother devices mounted on the trolley-arm are employed to insure constantcontact of trolley-wheel with feed-wire, because if such guards are notkept in the same relative position to the feedwire in all positions ofthe trolley-arm they will be entirely useless, as will be readilyunderstood by those skilled in the art.

The upper part or extension I) of the arm B is hollow and formed at itsuppermost end into a forked guideway 11 having slots b Figs. 4, 5, and6.

Within the forked guideway b and extending into the hollow upper part orextension I) of the arm B is contained a sliding fork c, in which thetrolley-wheel e is journaled by means of the shaft or arbor o. Thisarbor c is extended beyond each side of the fork c and guideway b andengages with its offset ends the slots b of the guideway b, for apurpose to be described.

At each sideof the guideway b is provided a stud h to which a lever it,having a slot h at one end, is pivoted. Adjacent to the sloth of eachlever 71. is a bearing in which the outer ends of the arbor c arejournaled, so that when the trolley-wheel e is forced or permitted to bethrown upward it oscillates the levers 72 about the slotted connection 5h. On the free extremity of each lever h is hinged a guard g, which isprovided with a pin 9', bearing-a-gainst the under side of the lever h,to

i prevent a swinging motion in one direction end of the lever h, tomaintain the pin g incontact with the lever h, or, in other words, to

spring 3 placed around the stem 0 of the sliding fork c and-inside thebore 11 of the part b. The spring 8 is of such strength as to readilyand quickly force the sliding fork c outward and the trolley-wheel 6against the feed-wire .f as soon as the pressure with which the wheel 6is forced against the feed-wire is smaller than the tension of thespring 8 It follows, therefore, that as soon as the wheel 12 tends toleave the wiref, through shock, jarring, swaying up and down of thewire, 850., the spring 3 forces the sliding fork c and with it the wheel6 outward and into normal operative position with the wiref. The leversh by the upward movement of the sliding fork c and wheel 8 areoscillated about the studs b and force the guards g upward, as shown infull lines in Fig. 4. In this position the guards 9 allow the feed-wiref considerable sway sidewise as well as in vertical direction, and it isalmost impossible for the feed-wire fto leave the guards g. Should theguards, or only one of them, in the running of the car strike against across-wire or any other obstacle or means which are necessary to holdthe feed-wire f in position, they or it will easily swing backward aboutits pivot, as shown at y in dotted lines, and regain its former positionquickly by the action of the spring 8 If the springs in the frame a hasagain brought the wheel 6 into proper contact with the feed-wirefandapplied a pressure upon the wheel 6 to counteract the spring 5 by whichthe stem 6 of the sliding fork c is depressed into the bore b the levers7r and guards g are also depressed and occupy a position as shown indotted lines at as, Fig. 4. Should the trolley-wheel 6, however, leavethe feed-wire f entirely the guards g are then thrown in position, asshown in full lines, Fig. 4, and act as a wire-finder. In such a casethe trolley-arm B is operated by the rope r, and the guards g beinginclined and curved from the wheel 6 outwardly, Fig. 5, serve to guidethe feed-wire between them and onto the wheel 6, as will be readilyunderstood.

It may be remarked that as each of the guards g is separately pivoted toa lever the trolley will be securely guided and guarded on curved roads,because the feed-wire is held only by cross wires or guys located 011the outer side of the curve, and the trolley-wheel e, tending to jump tothe outer side, is prevented by the guard g running continuously on theinner side of the curved wiref, while the other guard g on the otherside of the curve passes under all the cross wires or guys with which itmay come into contact.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A trolley-arm comprising two parts hinged together, the lower partfulcrumed to a swivel-shoe containing springs for the eleva'tion of thefree or upper extremity of the two-part arm, a trolley and guardsoperatively mounted in the upper part of the trolbackstop for the guard,and

ley arm, a chain fastened with one end to the swivel shoe and with theother to the upper extremity of the upper part of the trolley arm, andaspring between the two parts forn1- ing the trolley-arm, substantiallyasand for the purposes set forth.

2. A trolley-arm composed of two parts hinged together, the lower partfulcrumed to-- a swivel" shoe having devices fol-elevating the free endof the trolley-arm the upper hinged part of said .arui adapted tosupport a trolley-wheel, a spring between said parts constituting thetrolley-armand a cord or chainattached to the upper part of thetrolley-arm andthe said shoe, substantially as and for the purposes setforth. a

3. In a' trolley-arm the combinationwith a.

two-part arm, of a hollow forked guide-way formed on the upperof saidparts, a slidingfork mounted in said hollow guide-way, a.trol--ley-wheel journaled on an arbor of said sliding-fork, a spring forforcing the sliding-fork and trolley-wheel outwardly, a lever hinged toeach side of the guideway by a slotted connection and pivoted toextensions of the said arbon'a wire guard pivoted to the free end of thesaid lever, a pin or projection on said guard to contact with the saidlever to form a spring interposed between the said back-stop and thehinged end of the said lever, substantially as v and for the purposesset forth. 5

t. In a trolley-support the combination with a two-part arm, of a'gnide-wayformed in the with a two-part arm, of a guide-Way formedin theupper part of said arm,a trolley-wheel journaled to an arbor slidinglymounted in said guide-way a lever pivoted to each' end of saidarbor andhinged bya slot-ted connection to opposite sides of the guide-way, and aresilient wire-guard or wire-finder pivoted to the free end of saidlever, substantially as and forthe purposesset forth.

-6. In a trolley-support the combination of an arm fulcrumed to a swivelbed,means for holding the free end thereof in an elevated position, anextension'or upper portion hinged to the free and upper extremity of thesaid arm and provided with a guideway, a. chain or cord secured to theswivel bed and the up per end of the said extension, a spring betweensaid arm and extension tending to keep both iu'axial line, a slidingfork mounted in said guide-way, means for forcing the said fork out ofthe guideway, a trolley-wheel journaled on an arbor of the said-fork,'alever pivoted tofeach end 'on'thesaid arbor and hinged by a slottedconnection to. opposite sides-of the, guide-way, a curved wire-guardpivoted to each of the said levers, a back-stop for each of said guardsand aspring between each guard and -1ever,-substantially as and for thepurposes set forth. 3

v 'Z. In a trolley-support the combination ofan arm f uloru med to abed, means for holding the free end thereof 'inan elevated position, anextension hinged to. the upper end of said arm and havinga guide-way, achain or cord secured to the said bed and the upper end of saidextensionymeahs attached to the said arm and said extension tending toforce the same into axial'line, a trolley-whee jonrnaled on an-arborsliding-ly mounted in said guide Way, a leverpivoted to each end of saidarbor and hinged to opposite sides of the guide-way,

a curved guard, having a back-stop ,pivoted 1 to-the' said lever andasp'ring for normally holding the guard inaXial-line with the saidlever, substantially as and for the purposes set,forth.' r

8. In a trolley-snpport, the combiuation of atrolley wheel journaled onan arbor slidingly mounted in a guide-way formed in anextension'pivotedto' a trolley-arm, levers pivoted to said arbor andhinged to opposite sides of the said guide-way, guards having back-stopspivotally secured to said 1 levers and adapted to be brought intooperative position when" the arbor and wheel are forced outwardly, andsprings to keep the said guards in normal position with the said levers,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have'hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK w ines.

Witnesses:

HERMALNN BORMANN, 0. 'BORMANN.

